Set my Spirit Free

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name. (Ps. 142,

I cannot praise if my soul is in prison,
    because praise, in its simplest definition,
        is the expression of what I recognize in God,
            and I cannot recognize Who He is until I am loosed from what binds me.

God is only to be known by those who have been freed from things which cover the soul.
What we usually call Praise is a poor imitation of the real thing.
 
There are many things around us which would imprison us.
    Apart from God every soul in this earth is in a prison.
        The world exerts its pressures in many ways in order to enslave us,
            and the view from prison is always twisted and always speaks despair.
 
The way of "easy believism" is not enough.
    Freedom always comes at a price.
        The past is always present until the birth of the New.
            And the birth many times comes through much seeking and much pain.

Some of those who were enslaved in the Soviet gulag said that
    it was there that they, for the first time, found freedom -
        a freedom of spirit,
            a freedom which had nothing to do with outward circumstances,
                a freedom which was inextinguishable by any earthly power.

"Set my spirit free" says an old chorus.
    How wonderful it would be if every child of God could pray this prayer,
        and pray it until freedom should flood the soul like the dawning light.

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name. (Ps. 142,

I cannot praise if my soul is in prison,
    because to praise, in its simplest definition,
        is to express what I recognize in God,
            and I cannot recognize Who He is until I am loosed from what binds me.

God is only to be known by those who have been freed from things which cover the soul.
Praise is a poor imitation of the real thing until the soul is free.

Some of those who were enslaved in the Soviet gulag said that
    it was there that they, for the first time, found freedom -
        a freedom of spirit,
            a freedom which had nothing to do with outward circumstances,
                a freedom which was inextinguishable by any earthly power.

We are not where they were but still may be imprisoned.
There are may things around us which would imprison us.
    Apart from God every soul in this earth is in a prison.
        The world exerts its pressures in many ways in order to enslave us,
            and the view from prison is always twisted and always speaks despair.

Perhaps more important than the freedom from earthly prison
    is the freedom from the prisons within -
        the prisons which we have built with our own beliefs, our own fears,
            our own concepts and interpretations of the things of God.

Maybe we have seen other lives expressing this freedom
    and felt the pressure of the prison around us -
        be assured God wants us all to be free,
            and there is a path to freedom for us all.

"Set my spirit free" says an old chorus.
    How wonderful it would be if every child of God could pray this prayer,
        and pray it until limitless freedom should flood the soul like the dawning light.